Proposals for a new airport between Coventry and Rugby are ?dead?, claims a senior MP.

Multi-millionaire former Treasury minister Geoffrey Robinson said he had had it ?on a very high level? that the government had ruled it out.

The Coventry MP campaigned against the plans for a three-runway new airport at Church Lawford, which would handle 77 million passengers a year.

Speaking from his home today, he said: ?Rugby airport?s dead. There?s absolutely no danger of that happening at all.

?I?ve had it on a very high level, a very authoritative level. Rugby is out of the question.?

The prospect of a new airport came out of the blue last year when the government published consultation on the future of air transport to the year 2030.

Mr Robinson - who worked closely with Chancellor Gordon Brown in the Treasury and has lent Prime Minister Tony Blair his holiday villa in Tuscany, Italy - thought the plan was ?madness? because it would involve closing down Birmingham Airport.

Villagers in Church Lawford and Kings Newnham were astounded to learn their homes might be swept away to make way for a brand-new state-ofthe-art airport in the green belt between Coventry and Rugby.

Ron Ravenhall, secretary of the Anti Rugby Airport Committee, welcomed the comments and said campaigners had believed long ago they had won the campaign.

He said: ?I think Geoffrey Robinson is right. The war is over and has been for a long time. No government would stand up against the war we waged.

?I totally believe, and have done for quite some time, there will be an explosion of celebrations in and around Rugby on December 17 when the government?s White Paper is published.

?We organised a petition of 100,000 signatures, there were thousands marching through the streets against the plans. If you live to be 100 you will never see that kind of protest again - what government would stand up to all those people??

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is expected to make the official announcement later this month.

Speculation that Rugby would be ruled out intensified this weekend when the Financial Times had a leak that Stansted - rather than Heathrow - would get the first new runway in Britain for 20 years.

Former junior aviation minister Bob Ainsworth, Coventry North East MP, and deputy chief whip, said today: ?If Stansted is unpopular with airlines and is potentially not viable, then Rugby is going to be hugely unpopular and very difficult to finance.?

Warwick and Leamington MP James Plaskitt - who campaigned against Rugby airport - said: ?It?s too early to pop the champagne corks. We really have to wait for a full announcement for all the conclusions to be seen.?